According to the Department of Energy, ninety-six percent of the U.S. transportation sector consumes petroleum-based energy sources, two percent uses natural gas energy and another two percent uses renewable energy sources. Given the rising price of and vast need for energy, fuel consumption analysis and prevention of fuel theft has become a growing concern for military, government and commercial entities that manage vehicle fleets. In particular, vehicle fleet managers/owners are concerned with the potential for vehicle operators to “piggy-back” and add fuel intended for personal benefit while having access to fleet resources. Fuel theft is more difficult to detect in a fleet due to the complexity of monitoring the fuel consumption for a large number of vehicles.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,303,842, issued on Apr. 19, 1994 to Harp et al., discloses a fuel meter and theft prevention apparatus that senses and records the amount of fuel added to a vehicle tank. Using the fuel meter, a business can compare the amount of fuel charged to the amount of fuel actually entering the tank. Although this method may be effective, the implementation of fuel meters into each and every fuel tank of an entire vehicle fleet could be costly, time intensive and require frequent maintenance.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2007/0152040, issued Jul. 5, 2007 to Call, discloses a fuel delivery system that uses an “at-the-pump information retrieval system” to generate a fuel authorization signal when one of the following conditions is present: 1) sufficient funds are available for fuel or 2) sufficient identification has been provided. The fuel delivery system disclosed in this reference is designed to reduce the occurrences of fuel theft. Although this system may prevent unauthorized users from gaining access to fuel supply pumps, it does not prevent fleet vehicle operators from piggy-backing, i.e. adding fuel to additional unauthorized vehicles.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,371, issued Apr. 14, 1987 to Walsh et. al., discloses a method to prevent fuel theft and to control maintenance of authorized vehicles through a portable memory unit removably connected to an on-board computer. The on-board computer senses vehicle conditions through transducer carburetor settings. At a fuel dispensing site, a data processing unit receives and stores vehicle condition information relayed through the portable memory unit from the on-board computer. If discrepancies are detected, the operator is notified to immediately take the vehicle to a maintenance facility. However, installation of portable memory units and on-board computers into each and every vehicle of an entire vehicle fleet could be costly, time intensive and require frequent maintenance.
With the increasing price of energy, there is a commensurate need to develop a system and method to monitor supply abuse, in order to save vehicle fleet owners from inaccurate and unjustified operation costs and to increase vehicle operator accountability in fuel use.